The S&Ds are committed to fighting for social justice, jobs and growth, consumer rights, sustainable development, financial market reform and human rights. Read more about our policies for a stronger, more democratic Europe and a better future for everyone.

The fight against terrorism and organised crime

We need to have a European approach to organised crime and in particular the trafficking and exploitation of human beings, corruption in politics and in sport, and threats to the EU's financial interests. In a period of economic and social crisis, all resources deviated from legal activity must be recovered and directed to the real economy supporting legal, decent and sustainable work.

The S&Ds strongly support European co-operation to tackle terrorism and organised crime, and have backed international agreements to help fight these threats. We also led calls to set up a Parliamentary investigation into organised crime, corruption and money laundering. Recent events such as the horsemeat scandal have shown the potential for crime to flourish across borders in the internal market and the need for European responses, including through Europol and the proposed European Public Prosecutor.

The fight against terrorism must not be allowed to undermine citizens' fundamental rights and police co-operation and investigation must come with appropriate safeguards and oversight. All measures limiting citizens' liberties must be justified and proportionate, and only last for as long as the situation so requires.

Prevention should always be the priority and should include co-ordination of national policies and promote good practices. Our work in the fight against terrorism covers international agreements on the exchange of terrorism-related information between the EU and third countries, the tracking of terrorist finances, the regulation of access to chemicals or potentially dangerous substances and the protection of our critical infrastructures and cyber-security.